Letters to Loved Ones EP

Posts Tagged ‘DIY musician’

I always get funny looks when I say this, but I’m oddly fond of January. If you’re somebody who likes eating healthily and working hard it actually has a lot to offer as a month 🙂 It’s also the time when musicians tend to get down to projects they want to work on but can’t make the time for the rest of the year round; there’s not many gigs going in January so many of us take to the recording studio around now each year. Early January was spent in Galway with the Lazy Band, a magical few days recording originals and covers in a series of live sessions with engineer Mike Nestor. 3 days, 17 tracks. Intense but rewarding.

Next up was a session at Lamplight Studios to put down some strings on Sive‘s new album which promises to be a stand-out collection of original music. Yes, she’s my friend and I can’t claim an unbiased perspective, but I can honestly say hers is a unique talent.Looking forward to hearing the finished product.

Then over to Jealoustown Studios for some video shoots with Don Baker. So, all in all, loving January so far. The one drawback? Recording studios, apparently without exception, are freezing in January.

I allowed myself a glass of Prosecco this week, I won’t deny it. When you work on something for as long as I’ve been labouring at Letters to Loved Ones you almost come to believe that the journey will go on forever and there’s no destination in mind. I loved writing and recording the songs, and was massively privileged to have some extraordinary performers share their talents with me. But writing the songs is the easy part compared to the other areas of work. Why did it take so long? Because it’s been self-financed and self-released, and it’s hard to rush people such as session musicians and engineers who are working for next to nothing!

There’s also a good reason why record company personnel were employed in the past (and of course still are for big names), as many of my fellow DIY-musicians out there will testify. When it comes to promotion, formatting artwork, sourcing ISRC codes and all the other minutiae associated with getting a record across the finish line, indie musicians are a little off our patch. Can you do it yourself? Yes, but it will probably take you a lot longer than it would somebody with the skills and training. Are you the best person for the job? Definitely not, but the best person for the job is not available. So we muddle on and do the best we can……it just sometimes means that a collection of songs which took a month to compose takes 18 months to see the light of day in finished form. But finish it I have, and I’m rather pleased. Hence the Prosecco. Thanks for your continued interest and support, and I hope you like the finished product.

The first single from the EP is Heard You call my Name, performed by The Gospel Project. Click here for your first letter…….

Just finished a few days’ EP mixing. Regular readers (do I have any of them?!) will be aware that I’ve been working on an EP for the better part of 18 months…..why so long, you ask? Mainly because recording, mixing and mastering is of necessity a slow process when you have a budget of nothing. I’ve begged, borrowed and bartered my way through the project so far – and been blessed in having some hugely talented musicians share their talents with me on this basis – but there’s a limit to how much you can rush people who are working for nothing. If I have a bass player booked for a recording session and he gets offered a paid gig the same day there’s only one call to be made at his end –he’s gotta take the paid gig. So, we wait. I’m at roughly the 70% point now – which in my experience is the point at which there’s the greatest risk of project abandonment. Starting things is easy, finishing them is another story. Still, after a long delay it’s good to be back in the studio, mixing and listening to the material with fresh ears. Stay tuned 🙂